Sound Intensity is the measure of acoustic energy passing through a unit area. By integrating over a surface enclosing an object under test, you can calculate the object`s sound power. This can be done regardless of background noise, allowing convenient, in situ measurements of sound power. Other advantages of sound intensity measurements include the ability to determine the directionality of sound, and to quickly localise noise `hot spots`. Mapping software takes this a stage further by providing you with a contour map of noise levels to provide intuitive documentation of noise problems.